PS 130M - PARENTS ASSOCIATION
Minutes to PS 130M General Meeting January 9, 2025
Attendance: Lisa Wong, Yvonne Moy, Amy Hu, Joseph Li, Lily Wai-Lee, Jennie Yin, Angela Mui, Michelle, Ms. Thomas, Mr. Fong, Alice Chen, Carmen, and 6 other participants (see sign in sheet, in person)
Meeting Commence: 8:45am Translator: Lily – Chinese – Ana - Spanish
Joseph Li – Co-President
Joe – Welcome back to school, I hope everyone had a great break. Happy New Year (also says it in Chinese). Thank you for coming into our meeting, especially during this cold weather.
Today’s agenda is:
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- Principal welcoming
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- Reading & approval of minutes
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- PA Financial: December 2024 Treasury report
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- Upcoming events
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- Principal’s remarks / announcements
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- Any issues
We’ll also talk about our biggest fundraising event – our Annual banquet on May 16, 2025 – save the date.
Mr. Fong and Ms. Thomas are here.
Mr. Fong – Happy New Year, I can’t believe it’s already January. This morning, we were talking about the 4th & 5th graders who will be taking their state tests on the computers this year. The 3rd graders will continue to take it on paper this year but starting next year they will all be taking it on the computer. They will be doing test prep to prepare for the test.
Ms. Thomas – The children should start reading in longer lengths of time to get ready for the long reading test. They should also start typing more too. The ELA test will be in April and the Math will be in May. The children will start doing testing stimulation at the end of the month. They will prepare them to make sure they know their log-ins and passwords. This will also prepare the children and have them have a feel for testing on the computer and troubleshoot any issues; 1 day will be for math and another day will be for ELA.
Parent – when will the 5th grade Science test be?
Ms. Thomas – it should be after the Math test, maybe the 14th or 15th of May.
Lily – How was the testing last year?
Ms. Thomas – It went smoothly; a few computers froze but we were prepared. The kids who needed extra time were moved to another room. We had Ms. Gradess on a rolling cart traveling to each classroom to make sure it went smoothly. She was a moving command center.
Mr. Fong – District 2 is fazing out reading levels, they are now using screeners and diagnostic assessments. They said A-Z levels were not as aligned with the Science of Reading; they wanted more skill-based reading and knowledge-based, so that’s why they are using screeners and diagnostic assessments.
The Annual banquet is coming up and the honorees will be Mr. Christopher Marte, who has given and donated so much to our school through RESO A grants and Dr. Jenny Zhu of Manhattan Bridge Orthodontics for their continued donations to our school.
The roof playground is still under construction. They opened up the floor and stopped there, they said the costs to fix the roof floor and the playground is now 10x more than they originally thought. They are going to try to get more funding so they can complete the job. The k-2 side is still at a standstill and we hope it will be done by the end of the summer, but not likely. The other side where the older grades play is still open. Thank you, parents, for your support, as always!
Parents’ Association opening & Review.
Here are last month’s meeting minutes to be reviewed and approved. They will be posted on the PA Blog site.
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These are the minutes for review and to be approved from our last meeting in December; 3 people approved the minutes; minutes are placed on record. Thank you!
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This is the treasury report for review and approval; 3 people approved the treasury report. The Treasury report is placed on record. Thank you!
Our meter is at 40%, hoping Chinese New Year will bring in more money. We are working tirelessly, volunteering and decorating the playroom for each holiday. We are now working on Chinese New Year decorations; do you see all the nice lanterns and lions I hung up.
Fundraising is one of our hardest jobs. We must be out there to get funds, so parents, if your company gives matching grants or they could double your donations please ask them if they would consider donating to your children’s school. We just had a bake sale, and it was pretty good considering not a lot of kids bought money. Thank you to all the parents who baked and donated by giving their kids money or baked goods.
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- 1. Upcoming events – January 2025.
- Bake Sale - Wednesday, January 8, 2025
- Parents association general meeting – Thursday, February 15, 2025
- 22nd Annual Benefit Banquet - Friday, May 16, 2025
2. PA Fundraising for 2024-2025
This shows how much our Arts programs costs. It’s a lot to get the funds needed for these wonderful programs. Thank you, Lisa & Yvonne, for fundraising for all these programs.
Mr. Fong – as you can see the AC, the Copier, any appreciation to the staff and students, the PA funds.
Parent – Popeyes & McDonalds – you can approach Corporate and ask for donations, even Chick – fil- A. They usually have grants and donations set aside for these types of things.
Joe – It helps if we know the manager, then we can give them a letter to formally ask them for these types of grants. If you can help is approach them, or the person you know that would be great. We can give you a letter.
Here are some pictures of the kids in action in some of our art programs. This is a picture of our kids for the Chinese New Year parade.
Mr. Fong – My friend said they saw some of our kids in the Chinese New Year Parade on Channel 7. https://abc7ny.com/amp/post/nyc-lunar-new-year-2025-celebration-preview-snake-parade-festival-chinatown-manhattan/15659271/
Here’s a picture of the kids at our annual benefit. We also introduced the senior center to our banquet. We the kid’s lion dancing at the banquet, the teachers for lion dancing are our alumnus.
Mr. Fong – we are lucky to have our alumni come back to teach our child Lion dancing. These programs are wonderful because they go beyond our school.
Parent – Gift cards from our local businesses, is that acceptable for the raffles? Joe – yes, that’s exactly what we would raffle off.
Parent – ok, that is great for the businesses too, because its marketing for them to draw in new customers.
Parent – McDonalds website – you can request donations from there.
Jennie – the PA, they need manpower and volunteers to help them execute all these wonderful suggestions.
Lily – generally businesses want to give to people they know. There is also a journal these businesses can advertise on for the banquet.
Joe – it’s a lot for us to ask for donations, with parents’ help it would make it easier, and we might get more donations to our school.
Mr. Fong – Elsbeth – it’s a mystery/crime show on CBS that filmed outside our school on Tuesday. They were really nice & Lindy helped them get the permits, so they donated $5000 to the school. We will give some to the PA. Thank you to ISS & CPC with dismissal. They filmed till 8pm. They were so nice that they bought 3 pies of pizza for CPC staff for the inconvenience.
Joe – Inside Broadway is performing in the auditorium, you can take a sneak peek by looking at the window, but you can’t go inside.
Any questions?
Thank you! You can always come by the PA room 101 to chat with us, come to with any ideas, suggestions, or issues; our door is always open. You can also reach us by emailing us at PS.130pa@yahoo.com or by phone – 212-226-8072 ext 101 or reach Lisa at 917-821-7056 or visit our blog site at https://ps130pa.blogspot.com/ for more information.
Joe – Any questions?
Thank you everyone!
Closing time – 9:10am
